Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Why I Know You’ll Love These Chocolate Banana Muffins

• Irresistible texture. The muffins are moist, fluffy, and soft, with a rich chocolate flavor thanks to cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
• Vegan & gluten-free. If I use stevia-sweetened chocolate chips, these muffins are refined sugar-free, too!
• Easy to make. Whisk the dry and wet ingredients separately, combine them, and then bake your muffins! These chocolate banana muffins are quick to whip up any day of the week.
• Customizable. Add chopped walnuts instead of the chocolate chips, or go half-and-half for a little added crunch.

Notes on Ingredients

Please note that this is important information on the ingredients and instructions, and the FULL recipe with amounts and details can be found DOWN BELOW (scroll to it) in the recipe card.

• Gluten-free oat flour – For this recipe, I chose oat flour because of its light texture and subtle oat flavor.
• Xanthan gum – Xanthan gum imitates gluten in gluten-free baking recipes by binding and adding volume to the batter. You’ll find it in the baking aisle at most grocery stores, or it can be ordered online. Don’t skip it—it’s essential to the success of these chocolate muffins!
• Baking powder, baking soda, and salt – Check the expiration date on your leavening. If it’s expired, I recommend buying fresh so that the muffins rise properly.
• Cocoa powder – Either Dutch process or natural cocoa powder can be used for this recipe.
• Flax egg – This is a vegan egg substitute made from flax seeds and water. See my quick tutorial on how to make a flax egg for details.
• Maple syrup – You could also use brown sugar if you’re not making your muffins free from refined sugar.
• Coconut oil – My favorite oil for baking. You could use another neutral-flavored vegetable oil if you prefer.
• Vanilla extract – Or an equal amount of vanilla paste. You could also use pure vanilla bean if you’d like.
• Ripe bananas – These muffins are a great way to use up old, overripe bananas. The banana in this recipe is subtle in flavor and more of a binder for the other ingredients. It also adds moisture. If you’re looking for a more distinct, banana-bread-like flavor, you might like this vegan banana bread instead.
• Unsweetened almond milk – Or another dairy-free milk of your choosing.
• Chocolate chips – Make sure they’re refined sugar-free and vegan as needed.

How to Make Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Here are the steps showing how to make these easy gluten-free and vegan chocolate banana muffins from scratch.

• Prepare. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners or by coating it lightly with coconut oil, then dusting with sifted cocoa powder, shaking off the excess.
• Mix dry ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, sea salt, and cocoa powder.
• Mix wet ingredients. Whisk the flax eggs, maple syrup, and coconut oil in a medium bowl for about a minute, or until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, mashed bananas, and almond milk and stir for another minute. 

• Combine wet and dry ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides as needed. Do not over-mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Fill the muffin tin. Divide the muffin batter into the muffin tin holders; I usually make 10 larger muffins, but you can also do 12 smaller muffins. Add a few more chocolate chips on the tops if you’d like.
• Bake. Place the muffin tin in the oven and bake for 20 to 23 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then slide a butter knife around the edges of the muffins and carefully remove them. Let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

More Vegan Muffin Recipes

• Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
• Banana Oatmeal Muffins 
• Carrot Cake Muffins
• Pumpkin Banana Muffins
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins